The Kazekage's Shadow
by Capulet'sInflitratedHetalia
Summary: Gaara had it rough. Rejection, abuse, an extreme isolation, he was always alone, even away from his family. But what if there had been someone else? Someone in the shadows who supported him, trained him, pushed him to take the seat of Kazekage? Someone else alone. This is their story. Gaara x OC. Disclaimer: Naruto and all characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto-sama except my OC.
1. The girl at the window

みず

Gaara was all alone. It had been almost a year since Yashamaru's death, but the pain hadn't faded. If anything, the year of having no one had only made his seven-year old heart get slashed and shrivelled, till almost no caring remained at all. He wanted recognition. But making friends would never work. He had to make enemies. His existence would continue. This town would never be rid of him. He would be his mother's curse.

He got distracted from this inner hatred monologue by the sound of laughter. Looking up he noticed the kids from Suna playing in the shadow of the orphanage. They had gotten out a ball and had divided into teams. Naturally, they hadn't asked him to join in though he could see Temari and Kankuro in the crowd. Feeling eyes watching him, he looked up at one of the orphanage's window. In her usual spot, a girl his age was sitting by the window, her head buried in a book. She had faintly red cheeks and Gaara knew instinctively that she had been watching him sitting on the swing. He had observed her for a while now, and every time she had a book. They varied; sometime she would read about the legend of the desert serpent, sometimes about the history of rare plants around the Suna border. Never had he seen her reading the same book two days in a row. He stared at her for a while as she flicked through a book on the different cat species of this world, reading so fast her eyes seemed to be blurring. Eventually he climbed off the swing and headed home.

It couldn't really be called home. True it had been where he lived for his whole life with his father and siblings but he never had felt welcome there. His whole family feared him just like everyone else. As he smashed open the front door and walked through, he felt his siblings freeze from their position on a couch. He ignored them. Temari cleared her throat nervously.

"How was your day, G-Gaara?" she asked thickly. Kankuro kicked her. The Kazekage just leaned back into his chair, his thick brown hair hiding his eyes.

Gaara walked past them, just turning long enough to glare at his 'father'.

"_Why don't you just kill them?" The voice of Shukaku groaned in head_

"_Can't be bothered." He thought back. "They're not worth my attention"_

Shukaku grumbled but left him alone. He knew when to push Gaara and when that got him shut off. He also knew it wouldn't be long before Gaara started to talk to him again. He relied on Shukaku to be his only conversationalist.

And if he was on Gaara's good side he got his blood quicker.

He was back on the swing. The night had been uneventful and he had spent his time quietly reading. One large cup of coffee (coffee did wonders on his brain) on his way out and now he was back to normal. Shukaku had supplied him with enough chakra to give him the energy for the day. None of the kids were playing today. It was a windy day and everyone had gone inside and the girl wasn't at her window. Gaara closed his eyes. It was peaceful.

"Excuse me?"

His eyes snapped open and came face-to-face with a pair of stormy grey eyes. He widened his line of vision and got a view of wild blonde hair, a very red face, a shaking body and a book on the origins of snails tucked under an arm. His eyes widened slightly. It was _the girl_. The girl from the window. Almost immediately, he went hostile.

"What do you want?" he snapped at her. He had wanted peace and she had interrupted it. His glare would normally have any other person running as away as fast as possible, most likely screeching. Her reaction astonished him. Her hand whipped forward and covered up his mouth. His sand hadn't reacted so she clearly didn't mean any harm, but she had _touched_ him. Willingly.

"Shush, will you." She hissed crossly. "If they catch me out here, I'll be dead meat for sure." He pulled her hand off his mouth. She didn't react to the contact.

"Who's they?" he asked. She waved her other hand in the vague direction of the orphanage.

"Oh, you know," she said drearily. "all the up ups in that hell hole."

He looked at her in amazement. "You don't like that place?"

She huffed. "How could I? All they ever do is natter, chatter and blather. All day long. Changes all the time. Stops for food and sport. Starts up again. They badmouth you quite a bit, which is irritating. I couldn't be bothered finding out and when I asked why they just said that every one said so. Theory of reflection. Others do something so little people pick it up. They don't know why. It's obvious from my quizzing that they don't have the foggiest idea why you inspire terror. Neither do I, come to think about it." She trailed off thoughtfully. Gaara sealed his lips. This girl was different. He saw a kindness in her eyes that no one ever looked at him with. But no one had ever talked so much in front of him, not even Yashamaru.

"But there are people there who like you." He commented tentatively. She crossed her arms and scowled. Her stormy eyes seemed to crackle with lightning. Gaara felt mildly afraid of that storm system in her eyes.

"They don't like me. All they seem to appreciate is looks, not books. Why can't they understand that I like reading?" she stamped her foot, but then her expression brightened. "So I decided to sneak out to speak with you. You never tried to join them so I thought you would possibly speak to me. You seem to understand what it's like to be alone." Gaara was shaking slightly. He cleared his throat. It had gone all dry.

"How . . . did you sneak out?" he asked, desperate for something to say. She blushed with pride.

"I used my own technique." She told him, before forming two seals.

"Ninja Art: Manipulate Movement." She whispered, her eyebrows knitted together in concentration. Then she dissolved and appeared a metre away. She let the seal drop, her brow gleaming with sweat. "It's a particle manipulation technique." She gasped. "I can move my particles to a different location but I can only manage several metres. A couple when I'm tired." She looked at him curiously.

"What can you do?"

Gaara went red. He didn't want to use his sand and scare away this nice girl. True she might act a bit weird but she had talked to him and wasn't scared and he didn't want to freak her out. And she knew what it was like being alone.

"I-I don't." he stuttered. She cut in.

"What do you mean you don't use a technique? _Everyone_ can use a technique. Admittedly some people are better then others but everyone can do it. Now show me!" The last three words delivered as an order. Gaara hesitated before slowly making the sand around his feet churn. He had to really concentrate because the sand was so untameable. It only moved when he really wanted it to. All his doubts were not helping his wanting. The girl stared at it wild-eyed. Then she looked at up and grinned at Gaara, taking him aback. He had never seen a grin directed at him before.

"Cool!" she breathed. "If you can do that, why did you say you couldn't?"

"I didn't" Gaara whispered. "You interrupted me before I could finish." He had never heard someone describe his sand as cool.  
"I did?" The girl asked. She thought, jutting out her bottom lip. "I guess so. What were you going to say then?" Gaara was about to answer when there was a crash. Both children froze.

"What was that?" the girl whispered. Gaara just shook his head.

"Where's the other noise?" she asked. He looked at her.

"What other noise?"  
"We're right beside an orphanage. Shouldn't there be a bit more noise?"  
Gaara sucked in, an ugly suspicion worming into his mind. The last time he had been alone like this it hadn't gone well.

"They've been evacuated." He looked at her. "You should go too."  
"Why?" she demanded, curious.

"Because the last time this happened, I-I became very dangerous to be near."  
"Last time WHAT happened?"  
"The last time the lord Kazekage tried to rid the world of the monster you are currently conversing with." Gaara saw her react, eyes widening. A hurricane blew across the grey. His heart felt painful again and he clenched it with his fist like he used to. And then she spun, hands balled into fists towards where the voice had come from. Standing at the other side of a courtyard was a Suna ninja. He wore a face-mask and was completely unrecognisable. A dozen knives floated around him. He could almost be a reincarnation of Yashamaru, so similar did they look disguised like that, except that Yashamaru was dead.

"What do you mean, a monster?" she asked huffily. "You're just like everyone else. Badmouthing people so you can be like others." She placed her hands on her hips. "I seriously hope I don't end up joining the flock of pointless sheep." The man raised his eyebrows.

"Sorry, lovey, but actually I know full well why everyone avoids that blight on our society. He actually is a monster, one that can be very dangerous to be around." The girl gasped in astonishment. Gaara felt despair mingle with rage. The ninja turned his attention back to Gaara. "And before long there will be some pointy things flying so scat, girl." He got ready to throw his knives. Gaara summoned up Shukaku's power, his bloodlust screaming at Gaara. And then the girl had thrust herself in between Gaara and the man, arms flung at protectively.

Gaara eyes widened in shock. The entire foundations to his world crumbled for the second time in the space of a year. He thought no one cared about him, not ever. Yet now this girl was placing her life in danger to protect his. Gaara's head started swimming. The man shifted his wait uneasily.

"Get out of the way kid, or you're gonna get killed." The girl glared at him and moved closer to Gaara. Gaara himself was still too astonished by the girl's willingness to protect him to be capable of anything other then just staring. The man frowned.

"Your funeral, kid." He shrugged. He formed a seal and one of the knives went flying towards them. The girl quickly formed the two seals from before, but this time she didn't vanish. Gaara smothered a shriek as the knife stuck right into her stomach. The man sighed. Then both males stared in astonishment as she lowly lowered her arms and pulled the dagger right out of her body. No mark had been made. She inspected the weapon that should have just killed her curiously. And then with a speed that shocked all watching, she spun the thing straight back at its owner. Yelping, he managed to deflect it but the force behind it drove him backwards against the wall of the street. She grinned.

"That wasn't a teleportation jutsu I used." She said. "I made my particle's density bend to my will. Now no matter what you throw at me it'll just go straight through." Her eyes glinted. "Unless I want to catch it that is."

"Hey, you." Gaara rasped. The girl looked back at him, eyebrows raised in a question. "How long can you keep that up?"  
"Indefinitely."

"Good, now move, you're messing up my aim." Obediently, she moved to one side. The ninja tried to regain his balance but her blow had knocked his arm almost out of its socket. Gaara raised his hand. The ninja's eyes widened.

"Sand Burial!"

"That was interesting." Her voice remarked. Gaara waited for his billows of sand kicked up to settle. When it did she was watching him curiously.

"You're not . . . scared?"

She cocked her head. "Why should I be? You just totally kicked butt!" she crowed.

Gaara shifted uncomfortably at the praise. "You disorientated him with that throw."

She rolled her eyes. "Come on, it wasn't that big. Sure I made the big boy squeal but you didn't need my help at all, did you?" Gaara shook his head. She grinned and stuck out her hand.

"Name's Mizune, by the way. After that whole incident you probably should know." Tentatively Gaara took her hand, blinking when she didn't flinch away. She shook it so vigorously that when he let go it was sort of numb. "So do you have a name or did every one call you monster so early on that no one could be bothered?"  
"Gaara."

"Nice name that. Mine's dull." She looked around. "Do you have some place to hang out, because I reckon folks won't be coming back for a while." She extended her hand. Gaara took it.

"I know one place."


	2. A friendship formed in blood and oaths

Woot! Woot! Chapter 2!  
Thanks all who've reviewed and especially whoever followed (I feel so special now_ pushing up cheeks, making them go all chubby_)! Please feel free to review and comment! Also if anybody was wondering, the Japanese at the start of the previous chapter is what I think Mizune's name is when written in Japanese. Don't hold me to that!

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**Chapter 2 – A friendship formed in blood and oaths**

As Gaara stood at the place where his uncle had tried to murder him, Mizune sat on the edge and started swinging her legs.

"It's nice up here." She commented. "I bet up here you could see some pretty amazing stars on a clear night." Gaara came and sat next to her. She didn't flinch away.

"Mizune." He said quietly. He liked the way his voice pronounced her name. She looked at him.

"Yes, Gaara?"  
"Do you know . . . what a Tailed Beast is?" Mizune's face darkened and she turned up to face the sky.

"Yeah, I read about them. According to folklore and history books, there are nine-tailed beats, massive behemoths of power. Nearly all the hidden villages have one or two in their possession, and they guard their power jealously." Gaara looked at his feet.

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Why not?" He didn't reply. After a while she looked away.

"It just makes me so angry." She spat out for no reason. Gaara looked at her.

"What does?"

"What the village's do with their _precious_ beasts. They seal them inside people, giving those people a hell to live with their entire life. And then, if that person isn't a star citizen, he or she gets rejected." She spat on the ground in disgust. "So much hate being placed in the world. It makes me sick."

Gaara face saddened. "Yeah, I've definitely been rejected." Mizune eyes snapped open and she whipped around to stare at Gaara.

"Wait, you mean . . . you're a . . .?"

"Yeah," Gaara murmured. "I really am a monster."

He wouldn't meet her face, so he jumped when her hand appeared on his shoulder. He looked up at her. She was holding a knife. It was the one the ninja had thrown into her stomach. The look in her eyes was the softest he had ever seen on a person's face.

"Gaara, do you know what a blood oath is?"

"I don't bleed."

"But I do." His eyes widened as she sliced open her left palm. Letting the knife drop, she held out her hand to Gaara.

"Friends?" He grasped her hand. It was warm and slick with blood. Her blood.

"Friends."

And the oath was forged in blood.

As Temari and Kankuro got home with their father, they noticed he was acting weird. After a quick silent argument (Temari won because she was better at giving evil looks), Kankuro tentatively approached him.

"Um, father?" He began. The Kazekage looked at his eldest son and middle child.

"Why did we just evacuate the village?"  
"There was a . . . problem."  
"An other problem . . . or a Gaara problem?"

Before the Kazekage could reply, there was a knock on the door. The family looked up in confusion. Who could be knocking at this hour? All the villagers had re-entered the village after dark had fallen. The whole place had been intact (luckily). The Kazekage jutted to the door with his chin and Temari hurried over to open it. She was rewarded with stormy grey eyes, wild blonde hair and some very broad shoulders. Mizune flicked a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"_Finally_. Do you know how long the two of us have been door knocking trying to find _some_body? If you evacuated the village, you could at least have left someone to tell you when you could return. We've been waiting _ages_!" Temari stared at her in astonishment.

Her father appeared at her left shoulder. "Child, do you know which home you have just come to?"  
"Of course I do! And you really shouldn't leave your kids alone otherwise they miss the evacuation, mister."

"I didn't leave any of my children."  
"If you didn't then what does your son count as? A pet?"

The Kazekage was starting to get confused. "Kankuro is right here."  
"Yuh-huh, I can _see_ that. I'm talking about your _other_ son."

And then Temari took a rapid step back because walking out of the shadows was none other then Gaara. He didn't talk, only stared at his family with pure loathing. Temari blinked in amazement, feeling all the feeling in her legs vanish and gulped as Mizune draped her arms over Gaara's neck, expecting him to lash out. He didn't flinch away.

"I was just taking a little stroll when I found him all on his lonesome. And then, the funniest thing happened. This man all dressed up came and attacked us. Then we kicked butt. And isn't it such a coincidence that it happened on the same day and at the same time as this evacuation?"

The Kazekage wet his mouth. It had gone dry. "Yeah . . .coincidence."  
Mizune grinned impishly at him. "Anyway, Gaara said you can see the stars clearly on the roof so I came to his house with him." They turned to go up the stairs when Mizune turned and held up a kunai. Its blade was coated in blood.

"You don't mind me having this, do you? I found it on the guy who tried to kill Gaara. I took my fancy so I brought it with me." The Kazekage felt his stomach go cold. There was no mistaking the design. It belonged to the assassin he had sent to kill his child. But before he could speak up, Gaara yanked her upstairs and the two disappeared. The Kazekage chewed his lip.

"How interesting." He mused, quietly.

"Who is she, father?" Kankuro whispered, astounded that someone could act so casually and fearlessly around the monster.

"I believe she_ might_ be Gaara's new friend."

"Unbelievable!" a jonin huffed. "To think that the failed project has made a friend! I thought that all the adults knew to warn away the kids."

The Kazekage stood up and slid a group of reports into the centre of the table.

"Mizune Inuwaki, orphan, both parents dying in a mission."

Baki leaned in. "Inuwaki, you say? Weren't they the covert specialists of Suna?"

The Kazekage nodded. "Their particle manipulation techniques allowed them to be the perfect spies. They died on a classified mission saving the rest of their squad."

"How old was the girl when it happened?"

"Five." Another Jonin consulted the notes. "A total memory wipe was it?"

"Total memory loss?" Gaara asked sceptically. "That seems sort of unlikely."  
"Yeah, it does, but I don't see any other reason why I can't remember any details of my parents. The only thing I can recall is that they loved me, and as I get older, even that memory will fade until the only proof I have are my words." Her shoulders drooped sadly. Gaara's expression mirrored her.

"I wish I could forget my family." He said sadly. She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"Don't say that. Having no memories, it's difficult to deal with."

Gaara stared at his house. "My family hate me. _That's_ difficult to deal with."

Mizune picked dirt out from under her fingers using the knife. She was growing fond of it. "I suppose. But at least you know. I can't remember anything. Maybe I look like them, maybe I act like them, but I just don't know." She shrugged helplessly. Then a lightning bolt flashed in her eyes and they cleared.

"Enough of that. You seem to be really strong when you versed the assassin guy, but before you seemed to be struggling."  
"I was. When he attacked, I rely on my anger and Shukaku's power fuelling me. Without that, it feels like trying to lift a million tonnes." Mizune grinned at him.

"So you do have a sense of drama. But it's not really heavy, you're just inexperienced. Like how I could only travel a metre but now I can do three or four and control the level I appear at. But apparently the max you can reach is 8km. I think I got the ability from my parents."  
"Like a Bloodline Limit?"  
"Nah. I can't find any records for it being seen before. I'm reasoning that they must have developed the techniques themselves and then taught them to me when I was small. Only, I can't remember them spending time teaching me but I remember how to do the techniques." She shook her head to clear it "But we were talking about your abilities, not mine." She stretched out her hand. "You going to try it?"

Gaara thought. "I'll try it." And they shook on it.


	3. Assassination on the Banks

Peace lovely readers! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I had so much work to do! Argh!

Anyway, here's the new chappie, hope it's good XD. Features a time skip so please don't hate (on my knees begging)

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**Chapter 3 – Assassination On the Banks**

**Three years later:**

The whole class shivered as Gaara and Mizune entered the classroom. They occupied their usual places, at the very back of the room. Naturally everyone else gave them a wide berth. Everyone feared Gaara and ever since the two had become best buds, they had feared Mizune too. Her obsession with reading and her calm ways with Gaara made everyone regard her as a creep. Not to mention in practicals in class, she had an uncanny knack of vanishing and appearing right beside you when you least expected it. Also, her underground network allowed her to know nearly every secret/crush/weakness a person had and she was never hesitant with blackmail either, if it got her where she wanted. No one knew why they even came. Gaara considered it to be unbearably dull and spent the whole lesson glaring at the back wall, probably contemplating the next person he was going to kill. She spent her entire lesson with her head in some book, occasionally murmuring things to Gaara, most which made him smile in a very sinister way. This time it was slightly different though. She fished around in her bag and chucked a book at Gaara. He caught it and opened it curiously. Eyes widening ever so slightly he turned to his friend. She grinned, and murmured something in his ear. He nodded. The rest of the class and their teacher turned to the front and commenced the lesson.

Up the back Mizune hissed in Gaara's ear.

"It's all there. The tests, expectations and what they assess you on."

Gaara chewed his lip. "You sure these are the real thing?"  
"Positive. And think what this could be mean! If we attend the examinations meant for testing you for becoming genin, then they have to acknowledge you!" Gaara scowled. "I've managed that already."  
Mizune bit her lip, but didn't comment and continued on. It made Gaara feel a bit guilty since he knew that the girl was strongly opposed to killing and hatred and death. But whenever it came to him, she always turned a blind eye and tried to make light of it. She was better with it now then she used to be, willing to kill if it served her purposes or Gaara's pleasure, but she was highly opposed to pointless deaths. She had a hard spot in her heart for the Kazekage, who sent ninjas after Gaara, year after year, to be slaughtered.

"If we show them how much practise we've put in, then they'll have to accept you. You'll also have the opportunity to leave Suna and pit yourself against differently trained opponents." Now she had his attention. Although he still focused on the wall, his body tensed and went taught.

"Serious?"

"When have I ever got a research question wrong? And hadn't you already agreed to this two weeks ago and you're arguing merely for the sake of it? "

Gaara pondered the plan for a while. "Okay. I'm in. And I'm not going to ask where in Suna you got the scroll in the first place."  
Mizune simply smiled her mischievous smile.

As the two came to the Kazekage's home, they overheard his conversation.

"-both of you are to enter." He said seriously.

Temari and Kankuro looked at each other before sighing. They nodded their consent. Gaara and Mizune peered in the room.

"What's going on?" Mizune asked curiously. The three stiffened and turned around. The kazekage stood up straighter.

"Genin test." He said stiffly. "Temari and Kankuro are planning to enter it. It's in three days." The two ten-year-olds shared a glance.

"Can we enter?" Mizune asked, eyes bright with interest.

"Maybe in a couple of years. It takes years of training to build up the technique endurance to work the tests." Gaara stared at him coldly.

"That wasn't a question. We're entering." The Kazekage shifted his weight.

"It takes to time to prepare to become a genin." Gaara face went from contemptuous to mad in a rate of seconds.

"We are going to enter." And then the two flounced from the room.

Temari breathed a sigh of relief.

"Dad, is there any chance Gaara will become a genin?" Kankuro asked, nervously.

The Kazekage stared at the doorway. "I hope not."

In Gaara's bedroom, Mizune fished the scroll out of her bag.  
"So the first test is a questions test. Quite long but pretty standard questions. If you activate your third eye, then you can just browse my answers."  
Gaara nodded.

"The second test is trickier, but easy to pass if you have practise. It's called an anti-climate test, but I'm presuming that means that they going to make us swim, since that is pretty anti-desert. I'm going to teach myself how to swim tomorrow but I'll need transport across the desert." Gaara shrugged.

"I threw myself in to this. I may as well do it thoroughly."

She grinned, and then gestured to the next passage. "Then we need to present our skills. You can do it individually or in pairs." They looked at each other.

"Individually." They both chorused. Mizune laughed. Gaara smirked, then sighed and clutched at his legs. The laughter vanished.

"It's been about a year now, hasn't it?" he asked, excitedly. Mizune bit her lip.

"Yeah, probably." She brightened. "Maybe they won't be bothered this year."

Gaara snorted. "You kidding? After three years of annual assassination attempts, you'd think that they would do year number 4."  
"Maybe they don't want to risk any more lives." Mizune said quietly. Gaara made a face.

"No way. _Lord_ Kazekage doesn't care how many people he sacrifices as long as it ends with me dead and the Shukaku once again in their possession."

"I know." Mizune whispered, even quieter. There was a strained silence in which Gaara regretted bringing up the topic and Mizune regretted arguing about it with him. Eventually, she rummaged through her bag and emerged with two thin bracelets. She chucked one to Gaara, who grabbed it and inspected it curiously.  
"What is it?"

"A flotation band." She told him, smiling. "You tie it on and then if you are sinking beneath water you can activate it and it shoots to the surface." Gaara smiled slightly.

"I'm not going to ask you how you got them."  
"I wasn't going to tell you anyway."

As the Kazekage watched the two kids travelling away from Suna, he called up a servant.

"What is it, Lord Kazekage?"  
"Send two men to kill him."

"Yes, lord."

Gaara stared enviously as Mizune splashed and dived. Unlike him, she'd picked up swimming in two flicks of her legs. He'd spent the morning realising that trying to swim with two tonnes of sand on himself was hard, and then that drenched chakra-and-blood-infused sand takes a long time to dry. Mizune surfaced and paddled over to the edge of the cove they had been practising in. Stretching, she sighed.

"It's nice in there." She told him cheerfully. He grunted. Sighing (and carefully making sure that there wasn't any sand nearby) she shoved him into the water. He surfaced, spluttering. She dove in beside him.

"Now are you going to learn how to swim or what?"  
The stayed in for a couple of hours until Gaara got the hang of it, then they came out and started to brainstorm how they could properly show off their abilities.

"As long as we can show that you can fully manipulate the sand, they don't have any excuse to not allow you to pass." Mizune commented thoughtfully, before giggling. "Honestly though, if you show that you can control the sand at all they'll be absolutely gobsmacked." Gaara grunted. Seeing, that he was starting to lose interest, Mizune sighed and stood up.

"I'm going to go practise my new move. Give a shout if inspiration hits." She trotted off into the woods surrounding the oasis the two had located. Then Gaara's nerves tightened. He leapt up, catching the kunai in his hands. The Suna assassin stared at him coolly. Gaara didn't give a fig that he had just been attacked anymore. Instead, he channelled his power and felt the blood rush to his face. Laughter that was part his and part Shukaku's coming out maniacally, as the blood rushed in the air. Gaara sniffed. It was standard blood. The assassin hadn't even put up a fight.z He went over to the body. Then a scream shattered the air.

_What are you waiting for boy? Shukaku demanded. That's the girl. And where there's danger, that means that there's a second one here too._

Gaara started and ran through the trees towards the sound of Mizune's scream. He arrived at a clearing where another assassin was swinging his kunai all around him desperately. Mizune was nowhere to be seen.

"Now come on, girly." He yelled, nervously. "I don't want to do this, but you've left the Kazekage with little choice."  
"I don't agree." Mizune's voice drifted from behind the man. He spun around in fear. Gaara's eyes widened. She was invisible! The man gave a yelp as some branches off a tree broke off near him. He turned and ran for the edge of the clearing, but then dropped down dead, the knife Mizune had kept since that incident when they were seven appearing in his back. She materialised right next to Gaara making him jump. She beamed.

"I didn't think I could do that. But when he jumped out screaming bloody murder, I got the motivation I needed. And I think I'll be fine for the demonstration tomorrow in the tests." She said happily putting her arms behind her head. Gaara scowled.

"I don't want to do it." He snarled. Mizune lowered her arms and looked at her in confusion.

"Why not?"  
"I don't want to do it anymore. I won't be able to bear being an official citizen and follower of the Kazekage." Gaara was starting to shake with rage. Black veins were starting to appear at the corner of his eyes. Mizune crossed her arms.

"If you do that, you're only doing what that Lord Kazekage wants you to do."

Gaara turned his enraged gaze to her. She didn't flinch but looked him squarely in the eye. She knew she had to cool him off, but she didn't want to make it to obvious. That wasn't her way.

"You saw that look on his face yesterday. He clearly doesn't want you to become a genin. I bet that he sent those assassins just to put you off the whole idea. By now, he would have realised trying to kill you is a pointless ideal." She shrugged at him. "But hey, if you want to do what your father wants, that's fine by me."  
Gaara stopped shaking, the veins disappeared and he folded his arms across his chest.

"I'll never do what the Kazekage wants. And he isn't my father."  
Mizune shrugged. "Whatever, you don't mean that. I bet tomorrow you'll chicken out and run off."  
Gaara glared at her. "No way! I'm taking that test tomorrow even if I have to murder the entire village to do it."

Mizune beamed at him, her fake contempt vanished. "Excellent."


	4. The Genin Test

**Ahhh! SO MUCH WORK! MY LIFE IS FADING AWAY FROM MY EYES!  
I apologise to you all, lovely readers. You're being so kind, sticking it out for me, when I take so long to update. Here's the Next Chappie. Has a exam in it (my weakness) so don't care if the writings a bit off. Next chapter should be better**

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Chapter 4 - The Genin Test

The prospective genin, ages twelve to fourteen all jumped as Mizune and Gaara entered the room. The Kazekage sighed in resignation. So the two ninja had failed not only to kill Gaara, but also to dissuade him from taking the tests. One of the jonin examining the test stepped forward.

"What are you two doing here?" He asked nervously, not meeting either of their gazes, which made Gaara snort in contempt. "This is currently the test for ninjas in training becoming genins of Suna." Mizune rolled her eyes irritably.  
"Well of course it is. We wouldn't have come if it wasn't on, would we?"  
There were multiple gasps. "You're here to take . . . the test?" someone asked.

Mizune flicked her ever-crazy hair out of her eyes. "Of course we are. It would be rather idiotic if we had come here for another reason." The jonin stared at them.

"But . . . passing. . . takes time and effort, and you have had to train for a while. No ten-year-olds normally enter." Gaara gave him a look as if he couldn't believe the man's idiocy. Mizune rolled her eyes.

"Look, we're taking the test and that's that." No one was inclined to argue. The Kazekage stepped forward.

"Well, in that case, join the others and let us commence this test."  
Gaara and Mizune hurried into the crowd. Everyone gave them a wide birth and the test examiner started his little speech.

"Remember, all of you. Not only will this test make you proper genins, it will allow you to go across the map, doing things that help the bigger picture of Suna."  
He continued on like for a while. After a while, Gaara yawned and stuck up his hand. "Yeah, yeah, yeah that's all well and good, but when do we get to the killing part?" About everyone in the room felt a cold shiver up their spine. The examiner gulped then continued.

"Well, yes, on missions, none of you will have any protection from adults. You will have a jonin commander but aside from that it will only be you and your squad. There is every possibility that you will encounter hostile foes. This is why we take the tests so that we don't send out unready ninjas to their defeat."  
"Well, the Kazekage seems to delight in sending _ready_ ninjas to their deaths." Mizune whispered to Gaara, so low no one heard it. He just nodded his head.

"In the test are three stages." The examiner continued. There were several gasps. Most of the kids had come expecting the one test, not three. In the front part of the pack, Temari and Kankuro were starting to look a bit spooked and nervous.

"These stages are a knowledge test, an anti-climate test and a demonstration."

"I told you it was accurate." Mizune whispered smugly. Gaara kicked her shin. He was enjoying seeing his siblings squirm. All the other kids were squirming too.

In the back row, Baki murmured

"Those two" gesturing at Mizune and Gaara "would have the most reason to be nervous. Not everyone passes, and they are easily the most inexperienced. Yet while the others are sweating, they're standing cool as ice." The Kazekage frowned.

"Gaara is not used to challenges. They spend their time playing in the desert of whiling their hours mucking around. They haven't trained at all. So they shouldn't be passing. They just don't know what they are in for." A jonin watched the two nervously.

"I hope so, anyway."

As the knowledge test commenced, everyone gave a well-rehearsed sigh. It was rather standard. There were the desks all arranged in neat rows and they had to answer all the questions before time run out. All students who got between thirty and forty right (there were forty questions) passed, but the amount of remaining time a student had was added on to the next test. If one finished in half an hour, then the remaining half-hour would be added to the next hour length of the 2nd test. If a person finished with no time remaining, they would have to complete the next test in the hour. Everyone was grouped at the front, to save time walking to the examiner's table, and to avoid Gaara and Mizune who had taking the two desks in the back right corner. Mizune was right in the corner, and Gaara directly in front of her. Although relatively standard questions about Suna, its history and its ninja, the questions were still quite hard and there were forty in total. Temari started to answer a few questions, flicking through to find ones she recognised. So did most of the other thirteen and fourteen year olds. So everyone whipped around in astonishment when they heard a pen scratching merrily away. In the back, Mizune was answering question after question; her hand moving so fast it was a blur. She was easily flicking through the test. Gaara smirked at her observers. Unbeknownst to anyone but him and Mizune herself, the girl's constant reading habits had not only made her read at rates far greater then anyone else, but had also given her an extraordinary memory. Now, anything the girl read, stuck in her brain permanently. She had simply taken half hour out of her time to read all the encyclopaedias (there were twelve in total) on Suna, its history and its ninjas. As she finished she rubbed her chin thoughtfully and let her left arm drop. However, unseen by the examiners at the front of the room, her left hand quickly undid the ties of a bag that she had on her waist. Once open, the sand streamed out (by now she had returned to the beginning of the test and propped it up to hide her face) and Gaara formed the third eye. As Mizune flicked through, supposedly looking for mistakes, Gaara scribbled down the side of his paper, the essence of the answers. After she had reached the end and he tapped his pen on his chin three times, the signal that he had all the answers, she got up and with forty minutes remaining, handed in her completed test. As she returned to her seat, astonished test takers and test examiners alike all stared at her in amazement. Shaking slightly, the test examiner went through the test adding tick after tick. Then their amazement rose because in front, Gaara had started to go through the test, a bit slower then Mizune, but quite rapid none the less. Scribbling out his recording of her answers, he stood up and handed it in after forty minutes.

In the end one-third didn't pass. And Gaara and Mizune were the only two to get 100%.

The second test was simple. Swim to the bottom of the lake and retrieve one of the bells tied to the bottom of the lake. Most of the shinobi were terrified. _Swim?_ It was a foreign concept to the desert dwellers. Mizune sneaked a glance at Temari and Kankuro. They were hanging their heads in defeat. She felt like cheering.

"Inuwaki!" She looked up. One of the jonin was watching her nervously. "Your time commences now." She beamed at him, took off her jacket, ran to the edge and dived in. She then waited the ten minutes for Gaara to join her. When he did he slumped off the gourd everyone skidded away. Diving in after her, the two submerged then came back a few minutes later, each holding a bell. Gaara climbed out, a smile tweaking his lips, temporarily making a dim reflection of the kid he was like before the whole event happened. It got broader when he watched his siblings almost drown. Mizune smirked at his face.

"You look hell spoiled you know that?"  
"Oh, shut up."

As Temari finished her demo and joined Kankuro in the seats, Mizune nodded thoughtfully.

"They're not bad."  
"Meh, they're not good either. And you're up."  
"Oh? Yes, I am."  
The examiner jumped as the ten year old just appeared beside him.  
"Is Gaara coming down?" he stuttered. She gave him a withering look and he wondered how someone half his size could look down on him.

"Of course not." She moved to the centre and looked up for permission to start. The examiner nodded. The Kazekage and other jonin leaned forward ever so slightly. She frowned, the vanished. Her footsteps sounded across the arena then she materialised in mid air. She moved in a circle, teleporting through the arena, never setting foot on the ground before coming down and smashing the ground with her fist. There was a gasp as the rock shattered. She pounded her fist into the ground eight more time, before stepping back and smashing down with her foot. The force thrust the newly cut boulder into the air and it passed right through her. She spun easily, vanished and appeared above the boulder, before smashing her right fist down. The entire thing crumbled away and turned to dust under her fingers. She landed easily, then returned to her seat, beside a smug Gaara.

"What's you problem?"  
"Shut up. I'm enjoying the looks on their faces."  
". . . You do know it's your turn."  
"Oh."

Pulling up his gourd, Gaara strode down to the arena and removed his cork.

It was like before. Gaara was on the swing and the other kids were gathered in a courtyard. Only this time, parents were there, Mizune was perched on the ground beside him and both were clutching forehead protectors. Gaara stared at his sullenly.

"I really don't want this." He told her. She glanced at him sideways.

"Why not?"  
"I don't want to be attached to this place."  
"I don't think wearing your forehead protector will do that."  
Gaara stared at her then indicated the Suna seal. She sighed.

"Well, then don't wear it on your forehead." He continued his staring. Mizune stood up and took his protector from his hands then tied it around the sash that strapped the gourd on his back. It slid down to the bottom. He looked at her.

"What about yours?" he asked quietly. An unpleasant thought occurred to him. He hurried on before she could answer. "What if we're not in the same squad? Will you stop being my friend?" She smiled at him wryly.

"Firstly Gaara, the chance that we'll be in the same squad is close to zip. Second, I don't care if we're not in the same squad, you'll always be my friend. I made that blood oath, and I have every intention of keeping it. But to chill you" she bent down and tied her forehead protector around her right calf "as long as I wear my forehead protector on my leg, you'll know I'm still your friend." She straightened, then leaned in and wrapped her arms around Gaara, breath warmed. Gaara's heart did something it hadn't in a while. It thumped

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**How'd you like that? Next chappie coming: Mizune's Chunnin Exam! Please review and comment!  
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	5. The Chunin Exam

**Hello! I'm feeling generous and decided to post the next chaoter that I worked on last night! Haha!**

**(dying inside)**

**Anyway, quick shout out to my follow peoples. Thank you! You make me feel warm and fuzzy!**

**Quick note: I know that the chunin exam is supposed to change every year but my creative juices sort of hit a grinding halt.**

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Chapter 5 – The Chunin Exam

"WHAT!?" the Kazekage leapt to his feet. His eyes were narrow and furious. "You did WHAT?"

The head of the covert department gulped. "Entered her in the Chuunin Exam, sir."  
Kazekage threw himself onto his chair and glared at him.

"She's ten! She's only been a genin for five months and you want her to enter in the chuunin exams?"

The head shifted his weight. "I couldn't refuse, sir. The specification is eight missions and she's already done twelve. If her own squad isn't doing anything, she just goes and persuades another to allow her to join them. Not to mention she's already earned the respect of nearly the whole department. She's been pestering me about this exam for over a month now. Not to mention she's so persuasive it's almost like a mind trick."

The Kazekage drummed his fingers. This was very irritating. He sighed. "Fine, but I'm not taking any responsibilities for the problems that may arise." The head bowed his way out. Standing beside the door to the Kazekage's office, Mizune inspected her squad's commander curiously.

"So, am I in?" she asked. He sighed.

"You got lucky kid. He was in a good mood." He handed her the pass. "Don't lose it. Also, no one else in our group will go, so you'll be in a squad with some strangers." She snorted.  
"That'll be fine . . . as long as they don't badmouth Gaara." He frowned at her.

"Please don't mention that mon-_boy_ so close to the Kazekage. I've exhausted my nerve supply just going to ask him to let you attend." She laughed then went to jump out the window. He caught her arm as she perched on the sill.

"Just be careful okay? You're going to be a lot younger then anyone there and all the blame will fall to me if something bad happens." Her grin stretched wider.

"Don't worry. I'll be extra careful to make sure that you don't lose the only student who got that bell off you." Then she vaulted out the window. Landing on the ground she formed the seal and concentrated on finding the closest chakra location. Her teleportation jutsu worked on moving ones particles to a particular chakra filled area. Since Gaara had the highest chakra in the whole town, locating him was easy. She appeared right beside him, making him jump. She laughed and waved her pass at him.

"I'm off to the chuunin exams in a couple of days." She told him happily. He sighed. She had been going on about it for a fortnight.

"Who's going with you?"  
"No one from the covert unit. Probably some dweebs who have had to repeat it multiple times. Oh well, they'll serve their purpose." Gaara muttered something under his breath.

"What?"

"Wish Temari and Kankuro could have a purpose to serve. All they and Baki do is follow me around. It's pointless and uninteresting."

"Oh, come on! It can't be that bad."  
"It is. All they do is stick around here and train. Baki is becoming incessant."

"Oh, sounds dull."

They sat in companionable silence, Gaara gazing at the Suna skyline, Mizune leaning on his gourd massaging his neck. After a while, she came and sat down next to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"We're leaving tomorrow." He murmured. She turned to peer at him, eyes wide and open.  
"So you can say good-bye to me now."  
"I don't like saying good-bye." Gaara grumbled, scowling. Mizune smiled, and put her head on his shoulder and shut her eyes.

"Then wake me up when you leave." She murmured, her voice starting to slur. She was soon fast asleep, her head on Gaara's shoulder. A smile tweaked his lips.

"You're joking?" one of the ninja stared at her in horror. "We're being teamed up with her?"

"She's the freaky sneak who hangs out with the monster!" the other protested. Their Jonin closed his eyes in a way that made Mizune think he agreed with them completely but he didn't want to go against the Kazekage.

"She'll be joining us and I expect you to treat her like you treat anyone else." He said carefully. She scowled and folded her arms. This was going to be torture, but first she had to make it bearable. She stormed up to the two genin and stuck her finger in one of their faces.

"Look here. I don't care what you say, do or think about me, however if you insult Gaara again, I will personally make sure that you don't make it back here still breathing." She threatened, before turning and storming off in the direction of Konoha. The ninja laughed sneering.

"Aw, is the wickle baby throwing a temper tantrum?" he laughed. Mizune froze, and cracked her knuckles. The others could barely blink before she appeared beside the offending genin and he was airborne. He smashed into the wall of the exit and piles of sand streamed down. The genin and jonin watched, open mouthed as Mizune rubbed her knuckles and continued walking.

"Hurry up, slowpokes, or does the ickle baby want to go home and cry to his mummy?" she hissed. The offending ninja crawled out from the crater his body had made in the wall and stared at her in astonishment, holding his bruised ribs.

"I thought she was a little sneak?" he asked in astonishment.

"She is." The jonin answered tight-lipped.

"Then where did she learn to throw a punch like that?"

"I don't know."

When they reached Konoha, Mizune would have cried in relief if she hadn't been in the company of her companions. They had mocked Gaara and herself all throughout the trip, and she had never used so much of her brute strength before. She had wanted to give up and give them a lot of injuries to remember at their comments about Gaara, however she knew that she needed two team mates to enter, so she contented herself with deciding to get revenge in the tests. She was just about to go off and find the highest vantage point when the jonin grasped her shoulder.

"Hold your horses. That exam starts in half an hour so you might want to get a move on." She looked at him curiously.

"You're not coming?"  
"I don't come till the third part." Ever so slightly, Mizune's eyes narrowed.

No matter what she had done, or the places she had entered legally and not so legally, she hadn't found out anything about the Chunin Exams and going into the unknown really spooked her. She just wasn't going to let anyone know about. There was an illusion on the second floor, making it look like the third but it was a really simple job and she dissolved it in no time before dragging her 'team mates' upstairs. The writing test was relatively simple and she finished it effortlessly. Noting the others struggle she asked to go to the bathroom, then came back invisible and filled in their answers. Their eyes widened ever so slightly when she did it and they murmured a quick thank you. As if they thought she had forgiven them. Imbeciles. She would get her revenge during the second test. Noting that she had plenty of time before the test finished, she turned to inspect the test administrator, a kunoichi named Anko. Mizune briefly entered her teleport mode and almost fell off her chair. The amount of chakra coming off from the lady was evil. She sensed massive amounts of wild chakra on her, yet they all seemed to be focused on her neck. Noting a small mark there, Mizune felt a shiver of dread looking at it.

As she layed the final sensor, she activated all of them with her chakra. It was a basic tracking method that all the spies learnt so they could zero in on their targets. Her chakra flowed threw the circle of sensors, linking them and creating an invisible tripwire for any unwary ninja, in total covering almost 2 square kilometres. Almost immediately, she got the reports on what was crossing the borders, but nothing bigger enough for a human shinobi.  
"Now we wait." She told her sullen partners. She had bullied them into waiting for her to set the triggers and they clearly didn't approve of following a ten-year-old.

"Do we have to?" demanded the one who she had slammed into the wall in Suna. He had tied their heaven scroll to his belt. She scowled.

"Yes. We wait until I detect some other ninjas crossing the sensor then we ambush them." She told them, her lips pressed tight. Another plan was formed into her mind. It would involve a lot of instantaneous work, but it would be worth it.

They waited the rest of the day and the night for someone to cross the border. The moment the trigger alerted her about a larger then normal wildlife creature crossing the border, she jerked up. Closing her eyes, she made the chakra that they had cross stick to them like huge targets. One of her companions smirked.

'Looks like the little girl caught one, doesn't it?" he asked, the other snickered. Mizune ignored them. She would be getting her revenge for their offenses against Gaara soon enough. She stood and dusted herself off.

"You losers coming, or what?" she snapped, before leaping off through the treetops. She heard the others following her.

"Don't lose sight of me, else you'll get lost in here." She called over her shoulder. She heard their disgruntled agreements and smirked. It was time. She leapt behind a tree, temporarily out of sight. As she landed on the branch, she quickly formed a shadow clone. It continued the passage towards the other ninja. Mizune held her breath as she felt her two team mates fly past her hiding place. However they followed the clone like the blind idiots that they were. Breathing out, she activated her invisibility jutsu. Inspecting her hands for the blur that meant she got it right, she stood up and followed her clone. A quick direction to the clone, and it veered slightly off course. Mizune stopped and went into her teleport mode. She shook as the different chakra focal points hit her from all over the forest. Steadying herself, she honed in on the most familiar one, her own. She found three small sources of it, the remnants of the chakra that she had attached onto the ninja. Focusing on it, she teleported. She appeared directly behind them. Their bands showed that they were from Kirigakure. She smirked and crept closer. They had the Earth Scroll. Excellent. She darted ahead of them a made sure that she was directly between her team and theirs, then she found an ideal branch and cracked it into smithereens. Then she hid in the canopy to watch the fun. The Kiri ninja got their first. They did a bit of talking and plotting and then they set up a water trap. Mizune would have laughed if she hadn't been intent on being completely invisible. Some people really weren't original. Soon her team stumbled into the ninja, blathered a bit while Mizune steeled her resolve and then the trap activated. Almost instantly the forest filled with water, chakra barriers holding it in place. Just as the Suna ninja started to swim, it suddenly jellified, sticking them in place. Mizune decided to intervene.

"You said they weren't ready." One of the boys gasped, desperately trying to free himself. Mizune's clone stopped struggling and smirked. Mizune turned her feet intangible so they wouldn't stick, then ran across the water past her team mates, her light fingers picking up their heaven scroll on the way.

"I did say that. But I'm not the one with all the intelligence." Mizune leapt up to stand behind the Kiri ninja who were watching in confusion on an overhanging branch, and then they all gasped as the clone disappeared.

"Looking for someone?" she asked. The Kiri ninja's shrieked and almost fell off the branch they were perched on. Mizune laughed, and vaulted over to were the branch connected to the tree. Her team mates cheered.

"Now get us out of here." One of them demanded. She smiled teasingly.

"But these kind of traps can only be dispelled with the death of their caster." Her attention switched. The head Kiri gulped and reached for their scroll.

"Take the scroll! Just please don't hurt-" he broke off and looked down wildly.

"Our scroll!" he yelped. "It's gone!" Mizune cocked her head.

"Oh, this is yours?" she asked innocently, holding up the earth scroll.

"How did you-?" one of the team mates began to ask. Mizune shrugged.

"You don't need to know. But I've got what I want, so I don't see the reason to stick around." She turned to leave.

"Wait!" the Suna boy yelled. "You don't have our heaven scroll!" she giggled and turned back.

"Oh, but I do." She held it up. Their faces were horrified. Mizune started moving towards the connection of the branch.

"However, I haven't had fun yet. I told you that anybody who badmouths Gaara deals with me." She smiled, held up three kunai and threw them into the joint of the branch, before jumping up to a high branch. There was a moment of silence.

"Um . . . I don't think that that's going to-" one of the boys began. The explosive tags set off and the entire branch was ripped away from the tree. Mizune shut her ears to the screams as the branch hurtled down into the water, crushing the Suna boys and burying the Kiri ninja. Peeking through her fingers she noted that the water had gone down. Peering below into the now dry clearing, she saw the five mangled bodies. Teleporting down, she took out her favourite kunai and slit each of their wrists. As drops of blood welled out, she caught it in five separate vials. Putting the blood back in her pocket for Gaara to prove she'd done it, she stood up and when into teleport mode. She sought out the tower, easily recognisable by the massive chakra stores that had come off the women, Anko. She teleported there faster then anyone could say 'murderer'.

Anko felt a chill of unease as the little one from Suna appeared in the tower alone. The air had shimmered then her body had slowly appeared as if it had been dissolved and was reforming. Neither of her teammates were with her. As she took out both of the scrolls, she immediately threw them on the ground before opening them. The summoning spell started to work. Anko's eyes widened from her view up in the tower. The girl had recognised what they were without opening them? That was a first. And where were her team mates? Anko felt a shiver. As horrid as the thought of another pair of dead ninja were, it was the look on the little one's face that sent trickles down her spine. Emotionless, all business like and not seeming to care that her companions just died. As the Konoha jonin appeared to come and bring her through to the audience room, he asked.

"Where are your team mates?"  
"Dead."  
"Oh . . . um . . . sorry."  
"Don't be. It was my intention to kill them all along." She looked up at him with those stormy eyes and a tornado seemed to be blowing through them. He gulped and didn't talk to her again. Watching through the camera, Anko decided to change this rounds set of rules for next time they used it so that if you didn't come back with all three team mates you were eliminated.

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**Haha! Mizune's not as nice as she used to be! To much time around Gaara.**  
**Next chappie should be coming soon so review and stay chilly!**


	6. The Reality Manipulation

**Hello lovely readers! So many views last time! You guys are amazing! (tear trickling down). Below's the last part of the Chunin Exam, soon I'm moving on to Gaara's! (sigh) At least then it will be in cannon with the actual plot.**

**Enjoy XD!**

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Chapter 6 - The Reality Manipulation

From her view in the stall for the competing chunin, Mizune assessed her opponents. Her jacket with rattled with all the empty vials she had brought. When she'd gleefully told Gaara the fate befallen her 'teammates', he'd cracked a slight smile and patted her head. Unfortunately, that short lived pride feeling had been bested by the awkward questions concerning her the other two. She had been almost glad to leave after the month break between the third part and the second part of the exam. Looking around, she noticed the ninja from different parts of the five great countries watching. She sighed. They wouldn't be getting much entertainment, after all aside from her there were only five other entrants, three from Konoha and two from Iwa, whose third member had died of a snake bite on the return trip to the tower. Mizune had memorised the timetable for the matches. She was paired against the kunoichi from Iwa, then the boy from Iwa would fight against one of the boys from Konoha. The winner of the two matches would then compete and then the winner of _that_ match would compete alongside the winner of the match between the two remaining Konoha shinobi. She sighed as the regulator stepped onto the field. The Iwa Kunoichi smirked at her miniature opponent before vaulting down to stand in the centre of the arena. Mizune watched her for a moment, strategizing, then did a more conventional jump and joined her opponent. One of her hands was in her pockets, grasping a 50 metre long length of fine string, unbeknownst to any in the crowd. There were jeers and catcalls among worried murmurs when the crowd noticed her petite age. She snorted and readied her stance. She'd show them not to mess with the little girl from Suna. Her forehead protector stretched against her leg and she dimly wished that she had removed it and placed it on her forehead, where it would be much more practical. She squared her shoulders as the Iwa kunoichi got into her stance, and remembered that she had promised to Gaara to only change its position if they were no longer friends. And that was never happening. The regulator raised his arm, the crowd cheered wildly and Mizune's eyes raked across her opponent trying to figure out what she would do.

_;;;;;P_

"Begin!"  
The kunoichi was off like a rocket, streaking toward Mizune like a bolt. The small girl back flipped out of her way, her sandals digging into the ground. Before she could properly recover, the kunoichi was coming at her again. Mizune lept and twisted mid air in an attempt to dodge. That girl was fast! A plan formulated in Mizune's mind and she beckoned teasingly as the kunoichi spun around to face her again. A feral growl came from the Iwa girl's throat and she shot off after the annoying pipsqueak. She had potential skill, but she was hot-blooded and short sighted. That would be her downfall. Three kunais appeared in opponent's hand but as she threw them, Mizune leapt out of the way, pivotting on her hand and using the Iwa ninja's back as a vault. They spun around each other for a couple more minutes, each time the kunoichi getting as close as she could to the Suna ninja's body. But each time, Mizune lept out of the way, both hands giving her perfect balance as she spun and twisted. Then as the Iwa made another run, Mizune just managed to dodge her. The knife sliced off the lower part of her hair, just missing the neck. There were cheers and catcalls from the crowd. Mizune gulped

'Okay time's up.' As the thought crossed her mind, she spun and ran straight at the ninja before launching her body in the air and nimbly somersaulting off her opponent's shoulders. The push sent the kunoichi sprawling. Angrily she turned around to see the pipsqueak perched on the ground watching her like she was a scientific specimen, an irritable half-smile on her face. She got to her feet and Mizune clenched her right fist. The kunoichi made to take off, at such close range it would be nearly impossible to miss. Then she found she couldn't move. She gasped and struggled, but the more she wriggled, the tighter she was fixed. She glared at the little girl.  
"What did you do to me?" she yelled. Mizune's half-smile became a full blown grin. The regulator watched the, closely as the crowd leaned in.

"I didn't do anything. This is all your fault." She crowed, holding up her right fist. The blue chakra started to manifest around her hand and then went streaking off along the ground. The kunoichi's eyes widened.

"What-?" she gasped, as blue chakra ran along a line towards her. Suddenly it veered off to her left. It twisted and turned spinning in circles around her until it slowly covered a fast circle with her at it centre. The chakra line streaked over and wrapped around her body securing her.

"How-?" she asked, then noticed thin lines in the chakra.

"String!" she gasped. Mizune laughed.

"I was unwinding it as I moved. All those twists and turns I made formed a nice complicated net. That sprawl you made when I jumped you got you well and truly tangled. Now. . ." she stood up and walked over to the ninja, her knife at the ready.

"You're helpless." She pressed the knife against the kunoichi's throat to prove her point and looked at the regulator. He nodded.

"The opponent is unable to continue fighting. The winner of the first round . . . Inuwaki Mizune." The kunoichi growled. Mizune smirked, then leaned in. The Iwa girl felt a pressure on her wrist. When she looked down, she found a freshly made cut, and the little girl putting away a blood-filled vial. No one had spotted it. As the two returned to the platform, a shinobi in the crowd leaned back and crossed his arms. Baki was incredibly uneasy. He had been sent here by the Kazekage to watch the girl and she was giving him chills. She was also fighting in a way that wasn't normal for her and hadn't used a single one of her signature moves. She was no doubt keeping them secret for later use so that the other ninja wouldn't know her most powerful moves, which could play very well for her later. All in all, it was way to strategic for someone who was still ten. He frowned. Just what went on in that head?

_;;;;;P_

The Iwa ninja won the next round against the Konoha ninja. The ninja had used genjutsu techniques and the Iwa used rock techniques, both of which were highly unoriginal. Mizune felt like yawning, some ninjas were simply dull. She much preferred Gaara and his unique sand jutsu. That was interesting, but all of this made her want to pitch forward and take a nap. The kunoichi was glaring resentfully at her but Mizune was doing an excellent job of ignoring her. When the two other Konoha ninja started fighting, Mizune sidled over to the Konoha loser.

"Good fight." She told him encouragingly, making her eyes as innocent as possible. As he nodded to her stiffly, he never noticed his blood being removed from his wrist.

The two konoha ninja faced off, one using wind style techniques the other using taijutsu. All of them had very literal techniques, resorting to their abilities over the others weaknesses. She snorted. This was going to be way to easy. Then frowned because it shouldn't be. As the girl watched the fight, someone else in the crowd was fixated on her. The Iwa ninjas were watching her sharply. The kunoichi told her partner about the blood vial.

"She's not here to just become a Chunin." She mused to her companion. "She's got some other reason. Some sort of stunt she's trying to pull." He sighed.

"It's not really any of our business. But I'll be careful when I verse her."

He told her as the taijutsu using ninja surrendered.

_;;;;;P_

The Iwa ninja climbed back up to the platform, trying to staunch his fresh cut on his wrist and maintain dignity. The mini girl watched him, her face a mask. He was absolutely astonished. When she had versed the kunoichi, she had use string and channelled her chakra, which logically indicated a powerful ninjutsu user, as her chakra control was an example of hours of practise. So he had kept a distance from her. Instead he found himself trapped against the wall since she had started to back him up so he couldn't run, then threw kunai into all his clothes, pinning him to the wall. It was an entirely different style to what she had used earlier. And it had rattled him. As the winning ninja from before, the wind user vaulted down to join her. Mizune stared at him, her brain already formulating a plan. Now would be a great time to show off her actual skills, since she couldn't go further then this match.

He sent off a gust of wind in her direction, the kind that sliced you to pieces. She nimbly dodged, digging her feet in the ground but overbalancing all the same. Sensing his chance, the ninja sent another gust at her. In the crowd, Baki winced as the wind flurry hit her, whipping up dust and obscuring her. She definitely wouldn't come out of that unscathed. There was a synchronised gasp as the wind swirled. The regulator sighed.

"Winner is . . ." the dust cleared. Mizune stood up calmly, brushing off the dirt on her knees. There wasn't a single scrape on her at all. The entire audience gasped. The konoha ninja's face twitched in shock. She looked up, lightning dancing across her eyes. Laughing, she formed two seals and dissolved. He started then felt a sharp pain stab right into his arm along with a friendly 'hello'. He cried out and leapt away from her. She giggled as he yanked the knife out of his forearm, before dissolving again. This time, her uppercut sent him hurtling away from her, his arm scraping as he slid along the ground. Gritting his teeth, he stood up to hear her giggle and then he was flying through the air again. Five more times she appeared beside him, and five more times he was sent flying to land painfully, a sadistic gleam in his opponent's eye. On the last time, he managed to land on his feet. As she dissolved, he shot off. She vanished before he could grab her, but he continued moving. Mizune materialised, eyes drawn together in annoyance. Since he was staying still she couldn't latch on to him. If she teleported, he would already be too far away when she appeared. She frowned before smirking and promptly vanished. The Konoha started to dart around quicker, but she didn't reappear. Where was she? His answer came when he ran into something very solid. He barely had time to acknowledge that footprints were appearing on the ground without anyone walking on them when a small hand grasped the back of his shirt and he was airborne. In the audience, Baki twitched. Where the heck did a ten year old ever get the power to throw someone almost double her size that damn high? The Konoha grabbed a tree branch as he came down, swinging himself up on it. Gritting his teeth, he thought over the three techniques she'd displayed. Teleportation, Intangibility and Invisibility. He cursed. He looked up to see footprints streaking towards him. They stopped and he listened to the wind whistling as she flew towards him. Just before the invisible girl made contact, he rolled out the tree, back flipping into the centre of the arena. She had barely grazed the tree before he could hear her brushing past the wind. He turned to run. Just as she landed, he spun around to run her through with his knife. Just before it touched her, she materialised, her blonde hair flung out wide around her like a curtain. The dagger passed through her abdominal and she landed. He stared at it, not seeing her double-kick. Her left knee shot up and hit his chin jerking it up and making him stumble backwards, then her right foot planted itself firmly on his chest. This time when he landed, he found himself coughing up blood. He looked up to see the footprints coming at him again, on a much more round about route. He smiled. He'd finally figured her out. Pulling out three smoke bombs, he set them off all around him. She swerved to avoid and he listened as the winds around her stilled. She was waiting for him to emerge. He smirked. She was caught. He went to the ground and quickly formed six seals. Cupping his hands to mouth and blew out a strong gust. The smoke in front blew out and he saw the dust lift as she jumped and avoided the gust. Before she could recover however, he quickly spun around three times still blowing. He formed another seal and smashed his palm on the ground. Mizune who had been watching, had barely enough time to drop her invisibility and activate her intangibility before the arena was enveloped in a tornado. It didn't impact her at all, but she knew she was stuck. The ninja had planted himself right in the eye, with the bands of the tornado centimetres away from him. So she couldn't get into the eye. She gritted her teeth, furious at herself. He figured her out, and she held a begrudging admiration for that. Although she had developed a strong mastery of all three of her handmade techniques, she could only use one at a time, hence why she dropped the invisibility when he stabbed her and when the tornado appeared. She narrowed her eyes. She couldn't attack him without getting her entire body mutilated by the slicing tornado. And if she stayed in here too long, she'd run out of chakra. However, she had kept something hidden. A move not even Gaara knew about. Baki's presence in the audience had been grating on her nerves the entire time. She would give him something to tell the Kazekage. Tell him to stick his nose out of her and Gaara's business. She knelt down and began to form a rapid string of seals, the effort of doing two techniques at once already draining her. From inside the eye, the ninja waited for his chance, a chill of unease forming as the seal began. Something about that technique wasn't right. Mizune finished her seals then planted her fist on the ground, quickly dropping her intangibility. She felt the razors cut into her sides but she didn't stop.

"Ninja Art: Manipulate Reality!" she yelled. For a moment, the entire arena, its audience, even the tornado froze. Then reality shattered. The ground erupted, grasses changed colour, trees stretched into grinning monstrosities. The screams shattered the stillness, every spectator screeching as the arena turned into an unrealistic dimension. The tornado whistled away into a shower of flowers. The ninja stared at the chaos around him, all of it centred on the girl he faced. Then his own self control broke. He screeched and screamed in terror, froth starting to appear on his mouth. The regulator stepped into the chaos nervously.

"The winner is Mizune Inuwaki." He announced, before running out of the arena. Two medics hurried in and carted away the terrified genin. As the audience cleared out, Mizune stood alone in the chaos she had spent ages engineering at home. Then she pressed her hand against the ground.

"Dispell." She murmured. Everything immediately returned to its normal state, except for the tornado, which had disappeared when the konoha ninja had been led out. After looking at the freshly ruptured arena, Mizune wrapped bandages around her torso to stop the bleeding from all the cuts the tornado had created on her sides. She looked around herself in the deserted arena, then hurried out.

_;;;;;P_

Her jonin was waiting for her outside the arena, his face pale.

"Um . . . the daimyo will decide whether you passed or not, then pass it through your regular commander to you back in Suna. I'm leaving now, are you going too?"  
"No, I want to look around a bit." She said tonelessly. "I'll get home my own way."  
He nodded then hurried off. She watched him disappear, then travelled towards Konohagakure centre. It was vibrant and bright, made of many more colours then Suna's regular sandy yellow stones that occupied the entire village and its surroundings. She wandered through for a while, ignoring the odd looks the foreign ninja was getting from the civilians. Eventually, around late afternoon, she came to the edge of the town. In front of her was a massive grouping of buildings, like a small village inside a wall. The front entrance was taped shut. Not to be deterred, she went to pull it off. Her hand had gotten a firm grasp on the tape when a voice interrupted.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Nobody's gone in there for three years."

Mizune spun around, hand on her special knife. Watching her from up a tree was the Konoha wind user she had fought with in the Chunin Exams. She tightened her grip.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, making her voice as threatening as a ten year old could manage. He cocked his head, a half-smile tweaking his lips.

"I was looking for you. I've only _heard_ of kekkei genkai before and I haven't ever seen one used, and I've certainly never known one as powerful as yours."  
"Kekkei genkai?"  
He gave her a strange look. "You know, a bloodline limit. The techniques you used in the arena were probably something only your family can do, right?"  
"Oh, I know what a kekkei genkai is, I was just surprised when you thought I had one."  
It was the boy's turn to be confused. "Don't you?"  
"Oh no. My family can only use those techniques, but they're not a bloodline limit. My parents designed them themselves then taught me the basics when I was a kid. They're dead now, so I've developed the techniques myself. They don't come from genetics. So I could teach it to anyone I wanted."  
He scratched his head. "So . . .what are your techniques?"  
"They're based on particle manipulation. I can control all the particles of a body and manipulate them the way I want them."  
"So, what was that creepy thing you did in the arena?"  
"Same thing. I was just manipulating the rest of the arena's particles. Trickier because they're not my own, but I've practised. It's not kekkei genkai though. I'd love to see a real one."  
He laughed. "You should go into the past three years and then you'd get your wish."

"What?"  
"This place. It was the Uchiha Clan home. They had one of the most powerful kekkei genkais there was, the Sharingan. Then they all got wiped out."  
" . . . . . ?"

"One of their own, an Itachi Uchiha, slaughtered the entire bunch except for one."  
She blinked, then her eyes darkened. "Some humans can be so cruel." She muttered. He jumped down to land next to her. He was about three heads taller then her and she had to crane her neck to look up at him. He grinned.

"So, midget, I'm Koki. You?"  
"Mizune. I don't have any friends. Only one family member." (She considered Gaara her family, not friend)  
"Who?"  
"That's privileged information."

"Well then, Mizune," He handed her a scroll. "This will summon my bird, Rima, to you. Memorise the seal and form a contract. If you want any dirt on Konoha, just ask her to come to me."  
"Thanks." She answered, taking the scroll, almost cautiously. The last sight he had before she ran off towards the front gates was the first genuine he'd seen on her face. It made him feel happy.

_;;;;;P_

As Mizune trotted out the front gates of Konoha, her head came up and she looked to the trees flanking her. Baki pursed his lips.

"You've got good instincts, kid, I'll give you that."  
"Why won't the Kazekage leave me alone?" she asked coolly, ignoring his attempts to lighten up the conversation. He sighed, and swung off the tree to join her.

"You're best buddies with one of his kids. That's going to attract some attention unwanted and otherwise."  
"Gaara is not his child. Gaara is far better."

"Fine then. You're close with Suna's potential greatest weapon. You've just put the entire council on edge."

"They're all idiots. I couldn't care less what they think. Gaara's a human and he deserves a friend."  
Baki chewed his lip. He didn't like talking about the monster, but in every conversation with Mizune, he popped up. "I am on the council too, you know."  
"I know." Mizune looked up at him with those innocent eyes of hers.

"Also, the Kazekage won't like knowing that his shinobi have skills he doesn't know about."  
Mizune scowled. "The Kazekage doesn't like a lot of things. Some he should just get used to. And some he should leave alone. Didn't you come here precisely so you could report to him my abilities? Because he doesn't know when to keep that big nose of his out of other people's wishes? " Her voice slowly raised higher and higher until she was screeching her head off.  
Baki watched her without any emotion. "You got guts. But here's a tip for life: Never insult your Kage. Only bad comes out of it." The threat wasn't even concealed. She dropped her gaze and turned away. When Baki blinked, she'd already dissolved.

_;;;;;P_

It took her twenty minutes to make the three day journey, every time she hooked onto Gaara's chakra, yet not making the full distance. When she got back, Gaara jumped as she dropped right on top of him. She folded her legs on the top of his gourd as he craned to see her perched up high.

"How was it?" he asked, his voice raspier then normal. He wasn't speaking as much as he used to and his voice was becoming course. She grimaced.

"I kicked butt and got a source of infinite info on Konoha."  
"Nice."  
"And got spied on by Kazekage."  
"Oh."

The daimyo approved her for a Chunin that evening.

* * *

**Gah! Long chapter. So much work was put in. I officially declare that writing battle scenes is hard. Also, more Gaara next chapter.**

**Reviews and Questions are welcome!**

**Also, if any of you have curiosities as to what Mizune did in the arena, then just ask and I'll clear it up. I don't think I did a good job.**


	7. The Prelude to Disaster

**Hello! Sorry for long wait, but I have lot's of stuff happening!**

**Thank you to all my devoted followers, I know I'm being annoyingly slow!  
Also, I just started using this site, but I've figured out how to work with reviews, so I should be available to any questions, comments and inquiries!**

* * *

**Two years later:**

**Chapter 7 - The Prelude to Disaster**

Mika sat on the desk, trying to keep her mouth from twitching in annoyance. She'd abandoned her eyebrows long ago. Her two new team mates were arguing. Her amber hair was held up in a ponytail that flew around and whacked her whenever she turned her head. Her cerulean blue eyes were set in a scowl.

"Shouldn't she be here by now?" one of them asked. He had black hair and green eyes. Mika tried to remember his name. Hibiki, that was it and the other one with the blonde hair and brown eyes was Akira.

"I guess she's probably busy." Akira murmured. Among the three new genins, he was the only one not really bothered. "I mean . . . a jonin on the council as well as the head of the intelligence department, wouldn't that sort of give you an overworked schedule?" Hibiki sighed and put his hands behind his head.

"I guess."  
Mika harrumphed to herself. The other two looked at her.

"What?" Hibiki asked irritably.

"We're her first team. Apparently she's just got into the high positions. Wouldn't you think she'd be excited to come?" There was a noise outside. The three looked at each other then ran to the door listening.

"Um . . . you do know that looks sort of suspicious." A voice commented from behind them. They all jumped and spun around. Standing there was Mizune, a grin plastered on her face. She watched in amusement as they stared at her up and down.

"What were you doing any way?"  
"Well . . . we were waiting for our squad's commander. We got assembled into our teams today, and we were waiting to meet her. She's late."  
"Well your waiting is at an end. I was quite late, wasn't I?" They gaped at her.

"You're our commander but . . . you're thirteen!" Mika gaped. Akira frowned.

"And aren't you that freaky weirdo who trails around after the monster?" Mizune smiled, but her anger boiled up. Time to teach her squad their first lesson. She started laughing. Then she vanished. The kids gasped then Akira made a strangled sound. The other two whipped around. Mizune was standing behind him, her legs fastened on his, her left arm twisting his arms behind his back, her right hand pressing a knife to his throat.

"Firstly, never insult Gaara around me. Those who do have a tendency to suffer from bodily harm. Secondly, I have never trailed after anyone. Gaara and myself are equals. Lastly," she let go of Akira and grinned cheekily at Mika. "I'm twelve, not thirteen. Never assume anything. For instance an entire mission might revolve on getting that one age right and you assumed instead of checking then yippee, the mission fails, Suna is destroyed and everyone you know and love gets killed." She smiled and sat down on one of the desks, blindingly aware that her legs were swinging rather then touching the ground unlike the other adult jonin. Something that had been pointed out an awful lot in council meetings. The three genin stared at her in astonishment.

"Could . . . that really happen? Just messing up one age?" Mika gulped. Mizune cocked her head.

"Nah, not really. That was just an example. Messing up an age. Hah! However assuming something else could certainly lead to that conclusion. That's why you've been nominated to join my department!"

". . . What?"  
"Nominated?"  
"Your department?"

"Err . . . I'll answer the simpler one first. Yes, Hibiki, I am actually the head of the covert department. I became a genin at ten, a chunin at ten and a half, a jonin at eleven and got my title and place on the council just before I turned twelve." She moved on to Akira leaving Hibiki with his mouth open in awed amazement.

"Yes nominated. Each jonin is tasked with giving their new genins are test. If you pass, you're official genins. If not, you go back to the academy and I get another team. And during the test, if I'm impressed or you pass, you'll officially be my team! And I believe that answers your rather general 'what' Mika." she beamed at them. They stared back.

"So . . . what's the test?" Hibiki asked curiously. Mizune held up a bound scroll.  
"I spent two hours yesterday combing through that lovely library trying to find this god damn thing for Gaara. If you can get it off me then you pass. Simple." She tucked the thing carefully into her backpack then winked at them. "See you in the desert in two hours. Don't be late." She laughed then dissolved. They looked at each other nervously.

"Well, you're all on time, so that's a good start." Mizune said cheerfully. The others nodded, hands up to stop the sand whipping in their eyes. Mizune watched them struggle happily. After you spend five years of your life training with someone who uses sand, you get used to it after a while and now she didn't care about it nipping her body and eyes. They all looked at her balefully as she stood here proudly in the flying sand. She grinned.

"Firstly you know the basics. You need to get the scroll off me, however please note that there is only one scroll. This means that there is a good chance not all of you will pass." There were a couple of gasps. Mizune looked at them expectedly. "So what are you waiting for? Impress me!" then she dissolved. She appeared on the edge of a cliff, 100 metres away and sat down and crossed her legs. This was going to be real fun.

Akira stared at the place she'd been standing.

"Why does she always have to do that?" he muttered. Hibiki shut his eyes and tried to reach out. He could feel a tug coming from the South. He opened his eyes again and pointed.

"She's that way." He told the others. Mika nodded then laughed.

"Well nice seeing you but I'm off."  
"What?" The other two exclaimed.  
She rolled her eyes. "Didn't you hear what Mizune-senpai said? There is only one scroll. So whoever gets it first passes."  
Akira gulped. "Isn't that a bit . . . selective."  
"No, it makes sense after all there are nine teams that got through, so if you take on from each that's the standard rookie nine that a village should have each year." A cloud of dust hit him in the mouth. He turned to see Mika shooting off across the desert in the way he'd pointed.

He spat out sand "God damn it" he cursed. Akira looked at him nervously then started running across after Mika. He was about as fast as everyone else but Mika was shooting off like a bolt of lightning. Hibiki watched his companions heading North for a while open-mouthed, then shrugged, turned 180o and started running towards the South, following the tug. The fools would figure out their mistake when they hit Suna. He shot off, not as fast as Mika, but fast enough. When he reached the cliffs, he shielded his eyes and looked up. Amidst the sand and the rock, he could see tell tale signs of feet. Grinning triumphantly, he started to climb.

At the top, Mizune looked down. Hibiki was here, but not the other two. So he had tricked them. Her eyes gleamed and she vaulted off her back into a stand. Time to show him what made her head. As he climbed off, she winked at him then turned on her invisibility. He started, then looked around. She smiled to herself, walked behind him and threw him off the cliff. His yell obviously bought the attention of the other two. Akira arrived shortly afterwards. He skidded to a stop as he saw Hibiki sprawled on the ground, then he to was heading up the cliff. She narrowed her eyes. Mika should be here.

"Ma'am, what are you doing up here?" a Suna ninja appeared behind Mizune. To her credit, she didn't react but she almost jumped. She spun around.

"I've got my genins doing a test. They're after this." She waved the scroll tantalisingly in front of his face. He nodded his understanding =, then cocked his head at Mizune.

"Can I see that?"  
"Why not?" She made to give it to him but before he grabbed it, she chucked it into the air. He went to grab it, but before he could, Mizune formed a seal then smashed the ninja with her palm. There was a burst of chakra, then the ninja crumpled to the ground. Rolling out from inside him was Mika. Mizune caught the scroll.

"Nice try." She said. "But no ninja worth his guts _ever_ comes that close to me. Also, it's not nice possessing other people with your ghost technique, especially when they are on your side." Mika tried to rise, but Mizune had already got a good grasp on her shirt.

"Bon voyage." She whispered, before sending Mika flying off the side of the cliff. She managed to grab on, but slammed onto the rocks. Mizune winced slightly when she saw the girl impact on the cliff. Akira reached her and pressed his hands on her hips, a green glow emanating from them. Mizune grinned. Even in a competition Akira couldn't help but be kind. Mika nodded her thanks then the two continued climbing up, Hibiki behind them. Mizune enjoyed continuously sending them flying, but eventually she immobilised all of them. She bound Akira to the cliff using her string, Mika she downed with a temporary paralysed leg and she sat on Hibiki, his arms and legs twisted painfully in her firm grasp. She beamed.

"Well done. You all impressed me. Welcome to my team." She satisfied herself with their astonished expressions before teleporting into Suna.

She ran in and threw herself onto her chair.

"How kind of you to join us." The Kazekage commented, sarcastically.

"Sorry, but I was doing a final check." Mizune replied, looking at the other jonin on the council.  
"What's the status on your side?" Baki asked. Mizune scraped dirt out from under her fingers.

"Same as the last one. The daimyoi's becoming adamant and is showing a much greater preference to Konoha then Suna. The Chunin exam is almost here and the other countries are unaware of our economical decline."  
"Completely unaware?" Chiyo asked.

"Yep."  
The Kazekage pursed his lips. "Then we are set to go forward with the plan. Baki respond to our contractor and tell him that our answer is positive. We expect the agreed amount of resources in exactly one month." Baki nodded and left. Mizune watched him like a hawk, then turned to the centre.

"What have I missed?"  
"A contractor has made connections with us. He is the current leader of the land of sound and has made the deal that if we help him destroy Konoha, he will give us the necessary resources that we need."  
Mizune froze. "You've agreed to WHAT!?"

"During the final examination of the Chunin Exam, Suna and Sound will launch an ambush attack and destroy Konoha." The Kazekage said coolly. She leapt to her feet.

"Are you insane? That could never work! We'd not only be condemning our ninjas to death but alienate ourselves with Konoha!" She shouted. The Kazekage got to his feet. The other jonin shrunk slightly away from the two furious shinobi.

"We won't fail! This is our responsibility to do! As the leaders of Suna, we need to be able to supply for our people. Without our daimyo's allegiance, we need to go through with this!"  
"We won't be saving our people! We'll be murdering them!"

"We won't fail! We have thought of a fool proof plan!" The Kazekage roared. Mizune stared, then all at once the blood drained from her face.

"Your not . . . seriously considering using the Shukaku?"  
"As I said . . . fool-proof."

"That's crazy! Gaara will never-"

"That failure has shown no value at all! No value do you understand!" There was a synchronised gulp. Anyone insulting Gaara around Mizune was in for a world of pain. And she knew the best ways to make it hurt. "It's about time that he actually did something that was for the greater good!"  
"Greater good? This will be the opposite of the greater good! And he might have value if you didn't treat him like he didn't"  
"Sit down!"  
"Seriously, I guess I should have expected this level of cruelty from the way you treat your own _son_!"  
"Sit DOWN!"  
"No wonder your wife wanted to go and die!" There was a simultaneous gasp from all the jonin.

"SIT DOWN, YOU INSOLENT CHILD!" the Kazekage roared, his face bright red. Baki raced in to see the two yelling at each other. He came over and grasped Mizune's arms, forcing her down into her seat. The Kazekage calmed himself with a great amount of effort. He poked a finger at Mizune.

"You will enter you team in the Chunin Exams along with Baki's and Hewai's." he continued, sitting down. All the other jonin let go of a breath. Mizune sucked in.

"The requirement is eight missions. My team has only completed seven." She said sourly.

"You have been planning another mission though, have you not? It can be completed before the Chunin Exams starts, then with your eight missions, they will be able to attend."  
"They are not ready to attend as rookies."  
"Frankly, I don't care. If you were so desperate about their well fare, you probably should have been more careful about your tongue. And that, I believe, sums up our meeting." He left followed by Chiyo and the other jonin. Mizune stayed in her chair, with Baki watching her. Eventually, her eyes hardened and she left the room. She was almost out, when a hand grabbed her shoulder. Baki slowly turned her around to face him.

"Mizune, don't defy him. You barely got off for that temper tantrum you threw."  
"I wasn't planning on defying him. I never will. He is my Kage. However, seriously? You can't be okay with this Baki?"  
"As you said, he is my Kage. I will respect his choices."  
"Using Gaara?"  
"The monster's service as a weapon was the purpose of the project from the start." Baki said stiffly, before wincing as Mizune grip almost broke his wrist. She turned and left, her body rigid and determined.

"Errr . . . why are you concerned?" Gaara asked again, as he watched his siblings practise. With the Exam approaching, they wanted to be ready. Mizune clenched her fist and her mouth twitched. If it wasn't number one on her rock hard priority _not_ to do list, she would have been sorely tempted to whack Gaara ten times around the head.

"You . . . don't mind? That they're going to use you?"  
"I don't care, and neither does Mother." He rasped. Mizune tried to prevent herself from gagging. Ever since last year, Gaara had begun calling the Shukaku his mother. It sickened her and made her sad. Now as they perched together, before she would have happily been pressing in to Gaara. Now, she was sitting beside him awkwardly. And it was her fault. She was so often away or training her squad or in meetings, she was beginning to have less and less time to spend with Gaara. And he had his own missions. So he was relying on the Shukaku more and more and turning less and less human. Gaara tilted his head to look at her. His thoughts about her had changed. She wasn't his best friend. She was his property and only he should matter to her. No one else. So why did she always go off with that team of hers? It frustrated him and fuelled his hate in strangely painful ways.

"There, there will be blood that can be spilled. It will fuel my hatred and my existence will be feared. I will continue, not as a person but as someone who can feel the joy of living."

"I don't think that's good Gaara." she murmured quietly. He ignored her, but before long was turning back. She looked at him with those amazing eyes of her.  
"I'm going home." He rasped, before the sand swirled around him and he vanished. Mizune sighed and left. Just before she exited the grounds, Baki entered. He gave her a warning look, but she simply shrugged it off. She was not going to defy the Kazekage, only use his loophole. And that was what made loopholes so great.

When she returned to Gaara's house, she had just put her loophole into action flawlessly so she was virtually skipping that night. So she wasn't expecting it when a large wooden monstrosity slammed into her and smashed her into the wall. Her head banged against it and her vision blurred. When it cleared she could see Kankuro holding his puppet on her, his face incensed, Temari standing in the corner, her arms folded and the rest of the siblings lounge room.

"You said WHAT about mother?" Kankuro roared, almost spitting.

"This is about that?"  
"You said our mother wanted to kill herself, that she couldn't wait to die!" he yelled.

"Well maybe she did! She died cursing everyone in this village you know. That includes you! All because of your father!" she yelled right back. He went even redder and Temari looked murderous.

"Why you little-?" he began but Temari cut him off.

"Keep your voice down! You don't want Gaara to come down here, do you?"  
"Don't want me to what?" A raspy voice hissed from the top of the stairs. Three faces whipped towards it. Gaara stood there and the world was turning red before his eyes. Kankuro, _Kankuro, _was threatening Mizune. His personal property. And Kankuro was trying to remove the one breathing person that could stand to come near him. How dare he! With a roar, the sand swirled and yanked Kankuro off the ground. He squealed like a kid as he was held up in the air. The chakra connectors broke and the puppet fell away, leaving Mizune collapsing against the ground gasping and checking her vision. He walked slowly towards Kankuro, whose face showed pure terror.

"What were you trying to do?" he hissed.

"I was . . . keeping her . . . on her toes?" he said nervously.

"You were trying to kill her!" he rasped at his 'brother'. Sand swirled all around the living room. Temari pressed herself into the corner of the room. The sisterly thing would be to help, but they had made an agreement. If you got on Gaara's bad side, you were on your own. Through the blasting sand, Gaara felt someone tugging at his arm.

"Don't Gaara! Don't hurt him!"  
"Why not?" he spat. The sand lunged at his brother and Temari gasped as she smelt blood fill the air. So she was equally surprised when all the sand dropped to reveal Mizune standing between Gaara and Kankuro, blood dripping down her side in a small stream where the sand had sliced her. Gaara was looking at her in horror and Kankuro was dropped onto the floor. She smiled tightly and pressed her hands into her sides. There was silence in the household except for the dripping blood.

"Why?" Gaara asked in astonishment. Why had she protected Kankuro?  
"Because he's your brother." She told him softly. "Because someday, you are all going to need each other. And it will be very inconvenient if one of you is dead."  
"Why would I need him?" Gaara spat, throwing Kankuro a look of absolute loathing. He shivered and retreated to the relative safety of Temari's corner.

"I don't know. I can't see the future. But like it or not, your family are your family. And that's the way things work." And then she hurried from the room, but not before Gaara spotted tears streaking down her cheeks. He stiffened.

"Why was she crying?" he asked, whipping his head to stare at his siblings. Temari coughed nervously. "Well she might be jealous or upset."  
"Why?"  
Temari tried to get a hold of her shaking nerves. Gaara rarely spoke to them, if at all. And it was always death threats or menacing remarks, never actual curiosity.

"Well I guess you have a family. She only had you. She can't remember her own parents. So it makes her sad to see such a large family so dysfunctional.

"Oh." He said simply. He turned to leave, then turned back.

"And also, if either of you lay a hand on her again, I will kill. And it will be slow and it will be painful." He promised, before turning and hurrying after his friend. He found her perched on the roof, gazing into the stars. She wasn't crying but she still looked fairly upset. Gaara shifted nervously.

"_What do I do, Mother?" He asked. "I've never had to deal with her like this before."_

"_If you're not going to kill her then ask her what's wrong" Mother suggested then groaned._

"_What is it?"  
"She had such good blood!"_

"Um . . . was Temari telling the truth?" he rasped, his words a bare croak. She spun around, hurriedly wiping her eyes.

"What?"  
"Temari said that you were . . . jealous . . . because you didn't have a family."  
She frowned. "Sort of, I guess." Then she shook her head and stood up.

"But I have you Gaara." She came forward and wrapped her arms around his chest. Like always when she did this, a strange electric shot seemed to zing around his body. "You're all I need." She smiled, her eyes softening before leaning in and breathing in his ear. "I will always be beside you. I will never waver or wish for anything else then your presence. That is my ninja way." She backed off before dissolving into the breeze, the memory of her smile fuelling his hatred to his siblings for attacking her.

"_So Temari didn't know what she was talking about?"  
"No, she did, boy."  
"I don't understand, Mother."  
"She said need."  
"I know."  
"She didn't say want."_

* * *

**GAH! So much writing! Anyways, next chapter, Gaara's off to konoha and the cannon plot (**_**sigh**_**). Look forward to it!  
~ Capulet-chan**


	8. The Arrival of the Sand

**Hey lovely readers~!  
Sorry for the wait, I've had some work that I had to get done.**

**Also, just for some information, from now on, I will be updating within the time span of 1-10 days. According to Smile-chan, my organizer, I'm too chaotic with my updates.**

**Smile-chan: My apologies to readers. Know that she _will_ have updates within the time span**

**Capulet-chan: But, but, but ****smile-chan! I have all this extra stuff to do . . .**

**Smile-chan: Shut up, Capulet, go to your corner and write now!**

**Capulet-chan: (crying) okay, I'll just go now . . .**

**Enjoy!**

** ~Capulet-chan**

* * *

**Chapter 8 - The Arrival of the Sand**

**One Month Later:  
**Mizune, Baki and Hewai all stood in the Kazekage's office. He stood up and gave them passes. While the two men nodded, Mizune assumed a confused frown. He gave an agonised look.

"What now, Commander?"  
"This is a pass for the Chunin Exams. Yet my team has only completed seven missions." There was silence in the office. Baki shot Mizune a suffering look.

"You defied my orders to complete that mission?" the Kazekage hissed.

She beamed, looking every bit like a twelve year old.

"Absolutely not. You said that mission had to be completed. I spoke with the others in the covert department and we figured that a different squad would be better suited for the task. They had got back earlier then we expected and were therefor available. You can check with anyone else. The vote was unanimous."

"What was the final results?" he asked coolly. Mizune sniffed.

"Kumo has no idea of the status of the leaf village. They will be sending genin to the exam, but they won't be able to come to help."  
"Well at least something useful came out of this." He muttered. But Mizune wasn't finished.

"Oh and we, meaning my squad, we'll be going to Kiri to gather some intel on the smaller village's. Ask about possible allies in trade routes."  
"How long will it take?"  
"Oh, a month and a bit."  
"A month and a bit. Meaning you won't be hear for the invasion."  
"Sadly, nope." There was a hint of sarcasm in that last remark. He stared at her, speechless then clenched his fist.

"Fine. Just get out of my sight." He said between gritted teeth. She bowed and hurried out. The Kazekage drummed his fingers.

"She is wearing thin on my patience." He muttered.

"Admittedly, if you want to put it in a better light, it is only because she does not like this plan and is fearing for others." Baki commented. If he got her out of hot water now, that would be repaying the debt of distracting Gaara's murderous intentions when Baki had asked him if he wanted to train four days ago.

"I guess. She just seems to enjoy driving me insane."  
"Should we leave?"  
"Yes, that would be nice."

"You're leaving now?"  
"Yes, there is no point in getting there late. At least that's what Baki says"  
"I imagine he just doesn't want to be here while the Kazekage's in a bad mood."  
Gaara's mouth twitched into what Mizune knew to be worth a full blown grin. Most would think he saw something distasteful.

"Good job on defying him by the way." He said.  
"Well technically I didn't _defy_ him. I simply used a loophole he unknowingly made for me."  
They both did their version of laughing, Mizune a proper one and Gaara a weird sort of growling, then Mizune went and put her arms around Gaara. He loved the way that felt.

"Be careful, okay?" she asked. He frowned.

"Why?"  
"Because there is a reason why some people repeat this thing. It's designed to be difficult. And the best ninja from all over come to participate. I bet you there is going to be _at least_ one person who can penetrate your shield." He gave her a blank look.

"No one can penetrate it. Well, you can, but you go intangible and are already inside me when you do."  
"That makes it sound gross. But I'm serious. Just, keep a watch on everyone okay? Just in case?"  
He frowned. "You worry too much. That is very unlikely."  
"But not impossible."

"It won't happen."  
"It could happen."  
Baki called out to Gaara to tell him they were leaving. He sighed.

"Guess I should go. Spending all this time with all these annoying people who don't acre about will be _fabulous_. But I guess, that's my life wherever I go, isn't it?" Mizune started but before she could answer, Gaara had stepped onto his floating sand and was already a speck in the distance.

"I care about you." She whispered, softer than usual. Three footsteps sounded behind her.

"Are we going yet, Mizune-sensei?" Mika asked, staring up at the girl who had rapidly gained her respect.

"Why not? There's no reason to stick around."  
"Are you okay, Mizune-sensei?" Akira asked.

"No, I'm not." She turned around, and they saw a single tear making its way down her cheek. "But from now on, there's not much I can do."

They nodded, then the four were off across the desert.

Gaara, standing slightly apart from the rest of his squad faced Konoha.

"_Why isn't there sand, Mother?"  
"Because Suna is the only place where there is easy access to sand."_

"_Good thing that I have my gourd then."  
"Just go in."  
_Gaara waited till his siblings were out of sight then headed in the opposite direction. After wandering a while through the town, he eventually found a roof that was positioned to look directly at the massive faces carved into the side of the mountain. There were four of them.

"You are one of the genins here to take part in the Chunin exams, are you not?" A wise voice seemed to come from behind him. He straightened up, before turning around. Standing beside him was a man wearing the same clothes that the Kazekage always wore, except in red instead of green. Gaara raised his eyebrows, and nodded slightly. The man looked back at the carving.

"Ahh, the faces of my predecessors and of my successor." He said, lowering his eyes.

"I thought only Suna had a Kazekage." Gaara rasped, dimly thankful that Mizune wasn't around to rip his head off for not knowing. The man smiled at him.

"Why yes it does. However, we have our own Kage, or leader. I am the third Hokage of this village." He lowered his head to Gaara. "And I welcome you to my village. Gaara stare uncomprehending. Why was this man bowing to him, if he was in the same position? Shouldn't he already be treating him like a time bomb?  
_"Hate to break it to you, boy, but not many people know you're a monster here."_

"_Oh, is that good, mother?"  
"Absolutely not! If they don't fear you, your existence may as well disappear._"  
_"Mizune-"_

"_Isn't here. You heard her. She's giving herself a nice long mission so she can avoid everyone."  
"Including me?"_

"_Most likely."_

Gaara almost crumpled. Was he a thoughtless person? Couldn't he see that Mizuen was pulling away from him. He could barely bow before he was running away into the village. When he was in the crowd of people, giving him odd looks, but none fearful at least. He forced himself to calm down. After this was over, he would go back and find out what was wrong with her and fix it. Then she could stop shying away from him. Suddenly, a commotion sounded nearby. Gaara's eyebrows clenched in irritation. And only Kankuro could give off that much noise. Glaring, he headed in its direction.

**Elsewhere, in the land of fire:**

"The Great Naruto Bridge." Akira read. He looked at it. "Sensei, why are we here? Aren't we going to the land of water, not the land of waves?" Mika wacked him on the head.

"Duh idiot. The land of water can only be accessible by boat. The land of waves is ideally positioned for us to catch one, right sensei? Sensei?"  
The three looked to see Mizune already making her way down the bridge. They hurried after her. Mika tried to continue the conversation.

"Right sensei?"  
"Hibiki, remind me to give Akira two hours of study work when we get back."

"Oh damn."  
"Busted."  
They continued making their way down the bridge. When they reached, Akira pointed out.

"Hey, is that a graveyard?" The others looked up to see two crosses, with a huge sword sticking up out of one.

"It's not an official one. In fact I think that's the Executioner's Blade."  
"The what?" Hibiki asked in confusion.

"The Executioner's Blade. On of the seven swords belonging to the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist."  
"The who?" Hibiki asked. Mizune turned, with the other two close behind her.

"Do any of you actually pay attention in those tests I give you or do you just learn the answers then forget."  
"No! No I do know them! There are seven right? Seven swordsmen and they come from the Mist village."  
Mizune blinked. "Gee, I wonder where you learnt that." She turned around.

"Akira remind me to give him two hours of study work."  
"oh damn,"

"Busted."

"Guys, stop messing around." Mizune halted and gazed at the wave village. "We're here."

A kid had run into Kankuro and now he had lost his temper. The jerk. Gaara was grumbling to himself. Then the sound stopped. Gaara raised his eyebrows ever so slightly. Aside from him, no one could get Kankuro to shut up. It was one of the most annoying things about him. Concentrating, he made the sand move him to the branch behind him. He was facing a pink-haired kunoichi, a yellow haired shinobi and three little kids. A dark haired ninja was perched in the neighbouring tree. Kankuro was glaring at the dark haired guy who looked like he had just thrown a rock. Temari was standing behind her brother.

"Get lost." The dark-haired ninja in the tree spat. At first Gaara thought he was talking about him and felt hurt, then realised he was still talking to Kankuro and all feelings vanished. The pink-haired girl and two of the kids were staring at him in adoration and the two pipsqueaks (was he allowed to call others a pipsqueak when he was one himself? Well, they didn't have a demon in them) were looking seriously demoralised. Even Temari was eyeing the dark-haired kid in a way that made Gaara highly uncomfortable. It wasn't hate and it wasn't fear.

"_It's passion, kid"  
"Eww, that's just . . . ew"_

"_Pay attention. This is getting funny."  
_The blonde haired shinobi was reassuring his fellow pipsqueak (the one who ran into Kankuro) that he could have taken him on. What a little liar.

"Hey punk, get down here!" Kankuro yelled. The dark-haired kid narrowed his eyes. Kankuro frowned harder.

"I hate show-offs like you the most." he said. Gaara raised his eyebrows.

"_Is he insinuating something to do with me, mother?"  
"Most likely."  
_Kankuro swung Karasu off his back, making Temari start.

"Kankuro, you're even going to use Karasu?" she asked, alarmed. Gaara sighed. He should probably step in about now.

"Kankuro, stop it." He rasped, keeping his considerable levels of irritation out of his voice. Both his siblings froze. The dark-haired kid whipped around and Gaara came face to face with black eyes. Angry eyes. Eyes that knew what it was like to be alone and what it was like to hate. His face was serious and he was giving Gaara a suspicious look. Words came to him.

_I bet you there is going to be at least one person who can penetrate your shield._

Gaara ignored him suitably and glared at his so-called brother.

"You're an embarrassment to our village."

"Ga-Gaara!" Kankuro stuttered, nervously. He was aware of all eyes on him. It felt very good, all that acknowledgment. He started to feel blood rushing into his face from hanging upside for so long. He could see that the dark-haired kid was astonished to see him there. He didn't like being crept up on. But that was unimportant. What was important mas making sure that his siblings knew how annoying they were, Kankuro in particular.

"Losing yourself in a fight, how pathetic." He snarled. Kankuro flinched slightly. "Why do you think we came to the leaf village?"

Listen Gaara." Kankuro pleaded. "They started it and-

"Shut up" Gaara interrupted. "I'll kill you." Kankuro froze, terror on his face.

"_That felt good."_

"Ok, I'm sorry." Kankuro started to blather, eager to get away from Gaara's anger.

"I'm also sorry . . . really sorry." Temari put in. Suck-ups. Gaara turned to look at the dark-haired kid sitting in the tree beside him. He was watching him critically, looking at him in different ways.

"Sorry to you guys." He said to the dark haired kid, startling him.

Realising that his head was starting to spin a it from the head rush, Gaara closed his eyes, transporting himself to the ground, all the while feeling that for the dark-haired ninja to be able to hit that Kankuro with a stone . . . he's good. The one thing his annoying companion/minion could do was react fast. He appeared between his siblings making them jump.

"It looks like we got here too early but we didn't come here to play around."

"I know that . . ." Kankuro muttered. Gaara turned to leave.

"Let's go." He told them, the sand gathering around him.

"Hey, wait!" a voice called from behind them. He turned around.

"What?"  
"Judging from your head protectors you guys are ninjas from hidden sand village right?" It was the pink girl. "You may be allies with leaf village but it is forbidden for shinobi to enter each other's villages without permission." Gaara felt an urge to sigh. She didn't know about the Exams? This was becoming tiresome.

"State your purpose." The pink girl continued, seemingly unaware that she was being a pain in the neck. "Depending on it, we not be able to let you go."  
"Heh, talk about clueless." Temari smirked. She showed her pass, giving off a distinct 'see my pass' air. "Don't you know anything?" The blue kid in the tree straightened.

"You're right, we're genins from the hidden sand. We have come to your village to take the Chunin Selection Exam." She was enjoying showing off to the genins.  
"Chunin Selection Exam?" the yellow haired ninja repeated in confusion. Gaara had almost forgotten about him.

"Geez, you really don't know anything." Temari sighed despairingly. "The Chunin Exam is where outstanding genins from sand, leaf and other neighbouring villages assemble to take an exam to become a Chunin."  
"Why do we take it together?" the yellow ninja pressed, going red in the face.

"The main purpose is said to be to improve relationships between the allies and to raise the shinobi level but also each country likes to maintain a power balance and . . ." she couldn't help herself as she stopped for effect. But sadly (not really) the yellow haired kid stopped listening and interrupted.

"Hey Konohamaru." He said to the other small kid. "Think I should enter this Chunin Exam thing?" he asked excitedly. Temari went red.

"You bastard! You asked the question, listen till the end!"  
"What's your name?" it had come from the blue ninja. He joined the others on the ground. Temari blushed in excitement.

"Huh? You mean me?"

"No." Temari face turned sullen. Flirt. "You, with the gourd." The dark-haired ninja continued. Gaara was surprised. The boy was daring to talk to him.

He stared for a while then rasped. "Gaara of the Desert." He stared at the blue ninja. "I'm also interested in your name?"

The ninja smiled, but the smile had a sinister feel to it. "It's Uchiha Sasuke."  
They stared at each other and a swell of blood thirst entered Gaara's system.

_I bet you there is going to be at least one person who can penetrate your shield._

That's what Mizune had said. And it looked like Gaara had found that one person.

"Hey! What about me? Huh?" the yellow one broke in. Gaara turned away. Now that he had made his discovery, he was all of a sudden bored.

"Not interested, let's go." He and his siblings jumped to the trees and disappeared.

As they stopped on the other side of the village, Kankuro turned to his brother.

"Gaara, I'm really, really-"

"I don't care." Gaara hissed, as he turned to face his siblings. "Next time you do something so degrading or humiliating, I'll kill you." He vanished in a whirl of sand.

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed! Remember, comments are welcome and I'm keen for any advice.**

**See you within 10 days!  
Smile-chan: Get back to your corner!  
Capulet-chan: Yes, ma'am . . . **


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